evaluation of pediatric dentistry approaches among trainee dentists at kırıkkale university, in the academic year of 2022-2023: a questionnaire-based study

Background: this study aimed to evaluate the attitudes of trainee dentists who have completed pediatric dentistry internships and performed preventive, restorative, and pulpal treatments in pediatric patients to pediatric dentistry.methods: an 18-question questionnaire was designed for participants to complete. the questionnaire form, uploaded online via google forms, was distributed digitally via a link. the study data were reported using descriptive statistics (numbers and percentages). analyses were performed in the ibm spss 25 program.results: it was observed that 85% of the trainee dentists participating in the study expressed concerns about caring for pediatric patients prior to receiving a pediatric dentistry internship. it was observed that in response to the question, what is the treatment that you find the most difficult to treat in pediatric patients? 85.5% of the trainee dentists responded that pulpotomy of primary teeth was the most challenging.conclusion: it was observed that most of the dental students who participated in the study were concerned about the care of pediatric patients and experienced stress while treating pediatric patients. it was found that this situation negatively affected their desire to specialize in this field. increasing dental students' knowledge and experience in treating pediatric patients during their training and equipping them with behavioral techniques to establish good relationships with children will help them treat more pediatric patients.